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Where there is light, shadows lurk and fear reigns. Yet by the blade of Knights, mankind was given hope.

Created by Keita Amemiya, known for his work as character/monster designer on the Kamen Rider franchise, Garo is a Japanese tokusatsu TV series notable for being targeted at an adult audience, as opposed to being a Merchandise-Driven kids' show. It is also noteworthy for being more Horror oriented, it uses high-quality CGI on a weekly basis and it has several untransformed fights featuring the actual actors doing the fighting instead of stunt doubles.

In the GAROverse, the Makai Knights are a secret order of warriors who hunt down the Horrors: monsters born from the darkness of human souls. Kouga Saejima is a Makai Knight who has inherited the title of GARO from his father. By thrusting his sword upwards and drawing a halo, Kouga can summon an invincible suit of golden armour that he can wear for no more than 99.9 seconds. With the aid of his familiar Zaruba, a magical ring, he spends his nights hunting down and slaying the Horrors that have possessed humans.

One day he meets Kaoru Mitsuki, a struggling artist with a string of bad luck and an uncanny ability to cycle through different occupations incredibly quickly. When she is accidentally splashed with the blood of a Horror, it leaves her tainted and with one hundred days to live. The law of the Makai Knights dictate that she should be struck down, but Kouga decides to leave her alive as bait to draw out other Horrors. Thus, Kaoru is pulled deeper into the taboo underworld of Makai Knights and Horrors, and into the life of Kouga Saejima.

Later, another Makai Knight by the name of Rei Suzumura arrives with a murderous vendetta against Kouga. With the self-awarded title "ZERO" and the ability to summon a suit of silver armour, Rei has discarded his responsibilities as a Makai Knight to seek revenge for the death of his lover.

The original series became a success, and has since spawned an expanding narrative of spinoffs, movies and sequels as seen below:

List of works

GARO: The original 2005 television series, which spanned twenty-five episodes.

GARO: Red Requiem: A 3D movie released in November 2010. It tells the story of Kouga's involvement with a group of Makai Priests struggling against a powerful Horror named Karma, and serves as a bridging story to the second season.

GARO: Makai Senki: The second television series, which aired in 2011 and ran for twenty-five episodes.

GARO: Lament of the Dark Dragon: A 2013 film which picks up from the climax of the second season and acts as a finale to Kouga's story.

GARO Side Story: The Whistle of the Phantom Peach: A Spinoff which stars Makai Priestess' Jabi and Rekka, and whose events occur concurrently with GARO: Lament of the Dark Dragon.

ZERO: Dragon Blood: A 2017 TV series that features ZERO as the protagonist.

Multiple tropes in the series include:

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Tropes Across the Series

Action Girl: Almost all Makai Priestesses are required to be one: the ones that stand out most are Jabi (although a much more aggressive version) and Rekka from Red Requiem. In Makai Senki, the former was able to fight "The Man in the Red Mask" to a standstill.

In Makai no Hana, the main Action Girl is Bikuu, as she is shown to be the most powerful and strongest Makai Priestess of the series thus far. Even the director states this, along with the fact that she is "not exactly a Makai Priestess, but at the same time, she's not a Makai Knight either (due to the rule where only men can be Knights)." She's sort of a mix; something completely unique.

As Long as There Is Evil: The Horrors are deemed to exist as long as human malice is present in peoples' hearts. This arguably forms the crux of the tensions in Makai Senki.

BFS: Always a part of GARO's M.O. GARO's sword is, by default, normal-sized, but later upgrades allow it to grow to grotesque proportions, Zankantou-style. And by "grotesque", we mean the thing becomes twice his size and he surfs on it after throwing it in the air in the movie.

In episode 23 of Makai Senki, he grows his zanbatou large enough for his horse to surf on.

Cool Horse: After a Makai Knight seals 100 Horrors, they can take a test to see if they're worthy to ride one. These horses are made of metal and has the power to enhance the rider's weapons.

Deconstruction: This take on Sentai and Henshin heroes does play it straight for Makai Knights and Priests - they have to remain pure of heart and virtuous to retain their powers. But as the series goes along, and you see the tragedy these heroes experience because of their duty, you can understand how some Makai Knights fall, and fall hard.

Flaming Sword: Makai Knights can use their Madou Lighters to set their weapons and armour ablaze for some extra "kick".

Foil: Kouga has three different foils- Rei, Barago, and Leo. He is aloof, stoic, and single-minded in his duties as a Makai Knight compared to Rei who is hot-headed, brash, and has a sense of humor. During his interactions with Leo, Kouga comes off as the more mature, battle-hardened, and cynical whereas Leo is idealistic, sensitive, and emotional. And like Barago, Kouga was traumatized by the horrific death of a parent but where he came away from the experience with the desire to become a Makai Knight and protect others, Barago's experience became his Start of Darkness.

Good Is Not Nice: The Makai Knights aren't exactly the nicest people on earth, same goes to the Makai Priests.

However, in Makai no Hana, Raiga is shown to be the most "human" and is able to give a most genuine smile, doing so more than any other Makai Knight, since his mother Kaoru was just an ordinary human.

Katanas Are Just Better: Surprisingly averted. Not a single katana in the original 25 episode run. Most normal Makai Knight swords are jians, and their Makai Armor swords are ornate claymores, scimitars or zweihanders turning into zanbatou's. Some (like Kouga) nonetheless take to the traditional way of sheathing a katana after slicing with their swords (i.e. slide the blade at the mouth of the sheath, then store). A swordsman from feudal Japan awakens in the modern day in Makai Senki, but at no point is it claimed that his katana is a superior weapon.

Knight in Sour Armor: Kouga's responses to the more fauxlisophical Horrors seem to reflect this outlook. Arguably, however, all Makai Knights would need some level of this in order to continue protecting humanity from Horrors long enough to be considered 'experienced'.

Love Hurts: Kouga and Kaoru's relationship. Whether it's his enemies, his incredibly dangerous occupation getting in the way, her tendency to be a Weirdness Magnet, his tendency to keep rather important secrets from her, or the fact that one of them always seems to be cursed to die, much of Kouga's emotional conflict and pain seems to have started once he met Kaoru.

Not to mention that in the cases of Rei and Leo, they both ended up having the women they were in love with violently murdered.

Magic Countdown: The Makai Knights can only remain in armour for 99.9 seconds. How long "99.9 seconds" lasts depends on the scene.

Magic Knight: The Makai Knights can do the standard trick of lighting their swords on fire; they can also sense the presence of demons, and use various magical tools which require some magical ability to activate. However, White Night DAN can actually cast spells.

Magitek: Magical lighters, a magical robot dragon, and Messiah has the power to sprout giant celestial gun turrets from her back.

Red Requiem takes this to egregious levels with Makai holographic structural diagrams when our heroes plan their offence. The movie also introduces the Metal Gear-looking mini-mecha known as Gouryuu, which even leads to an A.I. Is a Crapshoot plotline in Makai Senki.

Later we have Makai Train and Edea.

Man in White: Makai Knights' outfits usually involve earth colors (such as black, blue, gray or brown). Most holders of thetitle of GARO (such as the Saejimas—Taiga, Kouga and Raiga—as well as the medieval GARO, Leon), in contrast, seem to be bound to wear a white longcoat with the golden badges (a circle with a triangle inside) of GARO—a tradition Ryuga disposes of in Yami wo Terasu Mono. Tsubasa, entitled as White Knight DAN, also wears a white long robe with elaborate red-and-black highlights (which also extends into his Makai Knight armor).

Master Swordsman: Kouga, Rei, Taiga, The Man in the Red Mask, Wataru, the one-off character Igari Juzo from episode 8 of Makai Senki and Leo.

Kakashi from Soukoku no Maryu is very skilled with a sword. This was eventually revealed to be because he was the "forgotten idea" of a fencing training dummy through which aspiring Makai Knight students, Kouga himself included, once trained.

Igari Juuzou is probably the purest example of this trope in the series. The others mentioned here has wither supernatural powers to help them, or are Makai Knights. Juuzou was a normal human being with no supernatural powers or any kind of empowerment whatsoever, just incredible swordsmanship honed through training which enables him to kill a Horror with just a normal katana.

Meaningful Name: The armored form of the "Man in the Red Mask" is called Jyaku, which mean "Evil" in English.

Also, let's not forget that Rei means Zero in Japanese. Kouga's name, as illustrated in the recap, is spelled with the kanji for "Steel Fang," which befits his character.

Intentionally invoked with Kouga's title, GARO, in Red Requiem: apparently, GARO was the Old Makai word for "hope."

Crow in Makai no Hana, however it makes his transformation time shorter.

Rage Helm: The helmet of all Makai Knights in their armored form appear to be stylized images of wolves baring their teeth.

Sorting Algorithm of Evil: While still being used in the individual seasons, this trope is averted in the overall story as the Big Bad of the first season,Messiah is already stated to be the Mother of all Horrors. None of the following BigBads has ever topped this in terms of position, as most of them are leftover Dragons from the first Big Bad.

Star-Crossed Lovers: Kaoru and Kouga's relationship. There always seems to be some sort of bad luck preventing the two of them from being completely happy together, mainly due to the dangerous nature of Kouga's job.

Hell, even after they get married and have a kid, problems still seem to plague their time together such as her getting sucked into another dimension and him choosing to leave their six year old son behind in order to save her

Sword Sparks: Soul Metal has to be some kind of magical flint, because it sparks when it comes into contact with just about anything.

Telepathy: The new Bikuu movie introduces the concept of a power held by (presumably) any Dark Slasher; Heart Invasion Technique, which allows them to enter into one's heart and see the darkness inside them.

Tortured Monster: The monsters of the week are humans possessed by demonic entities called Horrors. Whenever a human is possessed by a Horror, they will feel excruciating pain. They all get the Mercy Kill.

Achievements in Ignorance: Gonza carries a Soul Metal sword with no trouble—that is until he's reminded that it's Soul Metal, at which point the weight overwhelms him.

All Therapists Are Muggles: Subverted. Kaoru's therapist is actually the Big Bad in disguise, and he has been using this job in order to monitor her so that she can eventually be used as a sacrifice to summon Meshia.

Badass Boast: Kouga, in Episode 25, during the fight with Messiah uses a simple but effective one. "My name is Garo! The Golden Knight!"

Badass Family: The Saejimas. Dad was a knight who was very feared among the Horrors, Mom was a powerful priest who can match her husband in term of fighting skill. Son? A Badass One-Man Army who has kick the ass of even the most powerful of Horrors and lived to tell the tale.

Neither try to fool her or do anything to her. Hell, only touching one of her paintings can make Kouga angry, as young Makai Priestess-in-training Rin found out.

Bittersweet Ending: The ending to the first TV series. Barago/Kiva has been defeated and Kaoru is cured. But the original Zaruba who has been with Kouga since he was a boy is destroyed. Kaoru also decides to go Italy to study art and Rei must go back to the his original post as the Makai Knight of the West, leaving Kouga all alone with Gonza again.

However, watching Beast of the White Night makes this less bitter: Because Kaoru's come home and is waiting for Kouga.

Bottle Episode: "GARO Gaiden", which takes place entirely in an auditorium, lacks special effects of any kind, and appears to have been shot on VHS.

Boy Meets Girl: The underlying premise of the first series: Boy (Kouga) meets/rescues girl (Kaoru) from a man eating demon. Boy vows to protect girl from demonic beings while claiming to only use her as bait. Girl finds out and dumps boy, then proceeds to nearly die. Boy manages to save girl at the last minute, and they live happily ever after until boy loses girl again when girl ends up being host of the Bigger Bad. Boy goes through a veritable Trauma Conga Line to get girl back. Girl goes to Italy to study art and then returns.

Chekhov's Armoury: In Red Requiem. It's stated early on that dozens of Makai warriors' souls have fallen in the mirror realm of the Big Bad Karma, including Rekka's father, and he taught her to play a tune dedicated to fallen warriors on her flute. Guess what happens at the climax when Rekka is brought into Karma's mirror, and her flute is brought to her there...

Death by Origin Story: Every main character's family and loved ones. Just to count off, Both of Kouga's Parents, both of Kaoru's parents, and Rei's adopted father and girlfriend.

Even the Big Bad Barago/KIBA was not exempt: he witnessed his mother possessed by a Horror, forcing his father to kill her.

Declaration of Protection: Kouga's vow to save Kaoru before a hundred days passes and then afterward when it turns out that she is a gate for the Horror Messiah. Really, just his attitude toward her in general.

Everyone Can See It: Everyone can tell Kouga is falling for Kaoru from his butler, to his talking ring, the snarky rival that keeps trying to kill him, his three superiors who never hesitate to call him out on or mock his feelings, even his father's old friend who has never even met Kaoru, let alone seen her and Kouga together can see it. Apparently the only person who doesn't seem to notice is Kaoru herself.

Evil Is Bigger: Compared to all other Makai Knights in the series, KIBA is bulkier, more organic and far more menacing in design, likely to reference the fact that he is pretty much a Horror in Makai Knight form.

Expanded Universe: There are two possibly canonical novels written by the main writer of season 1, Yuji Kobayashi, in collaboration with series creator Keita Amemiya. The first one Ankoku Makai Kishi Hen, is an anthology on 10 stories which fleshed out the character and settings of the first series. The second one, Yoseki no Wana, is a story set between Beast of the White Night and Red Requiem and features a new knight, Shakunetsu Kishi YAIBA (Scorch Knight YAIBA) whose real name is Godo Akira and is supposedly Barago's student. There's also a short story set in the future, featuring Kouga and Kaoru's son, Raiga.

There's also the Pachinko games which show new characters and background info. Such as BADO being the senior disciple of ZERO and the intrduction of a new knight, Jushin Kishi GIGA (Beast Knight GIGA) in the newest game.

False Friend: Kaoru's therapist and mentor turns out to be Barago and that he had marked her as a child to be the gateway for the the ultimate Horror, Messiah.

Fire-Forged Friends: Kouga, Kaoru and Rei didn't get off at the best start. It doesn't help that their enemies seems bent on making their life suffer and turning them against each other, but in the end, they became close friends and in the case of Kouga and Kaoru, a couple.

Flash Step: KIBA uses this during his first fight against GARO and ZERO. In KIBA Gaiden, BADO's main ability is this.

Full-Frontal Assault: A couple of the Horrors and Messiah herself take the form of naked women at some point.

Generation Xerox: Kouga's father once saved Kaoru's father from a Horror, inspiring the latter to draw a picture book about the Golden Knight. In the present day, Kouga saved Kaoru from a Horror which set off a whole new chain of events. And in the second season, Kaoru reveals that she is going to work on a picture book about GARO. Kouga is also fated to fight the same person who his father died protecting him from.

Holding Hands: Played with between Kouga and Kaoru. In the beginning of their relationship, whenever Kouga wanted Kaoru to go somewhere with him, he would just grab her hand and drag her along whether she wanted to go or not. He takes to holding her hand properly in Beast of the White Night and the second episode of Makai Senki.

There's another one between Kouga and Rei after Kouga surpass the 99.9 time limit and invoke the LOST SOUL version of his armor so he can defeat KIBA. Rei manage to snap him out in time before Kouga's completely taken over.

Tsubasa Yamagatana from the specials, but just like Rei and Kouga, he get better.

Lethal Chef: When Kaoru cooked for her roommate, she had to be HOSPITALIZED. A single spoonful was enough to make Gonza throw up.

Light Is Not Good: The Three Watchdogs may look cute & innocent in their normal forms, but they are The Dragon of the Big Bad manipulating events behind the heroes backs, not to mention turning Rei against Kouga.

Love Makes You Evil: In one of the episodes of the first series, a grieving woman becomes serial killer who collects the fingers of her victims after witnessing her pianist boyfriend commit suicide before her eyes. And that was before she became a Horror.

And then a few episodes later, her father falls victim to same trope which leads him to seek revenge against Kouga.

Barago's Start of Darkness began when his mother died and became possessed by a Horror forcing his father to kill her which led to Barago's hatred of Horrors and Makai Knights.

Magi in Tougen no Fue she killed your friend Agi to get the Eternal Life from Higari.

Kouga narrowly avoids this after Kaoru is captured by Barago and he ends up invoking LOST SOUL GARO to save her and defeat Barago. He manages to kill Kodama but Rei intervenes before he is completely turned.

Ludd Was Right: The gun-wielding villain in a late episode claims that the Horrors first appeared when humans began to use tools.

Made of Iron: Kouga's body can take crazy amounts of damage including: getting shot at point blank, falling off buildings, getting thrown through walls, getting slashed by a sword, getting impaled through the shoulder twice in a row in Red Requiem, and landing on a steel beam in a way that would have broken a normal human being's spine. His default response to pain is shrug it off and get on with the ass kicking. Rei also count to a lesser extent, he can take on almost as much damage as Kouga.

Meet Cute: If by cute, you mean when the hero and heroine meet for the first time, he thinks she's a demon and grabs her in a chokehold, brandishing a magical lighter over her eyes, then proceeds to kill a demon right before her eyes and getting her cursed in the process. Which is probably as cute as Meet Cute gets in the GARO universe. Over the course of the series, they end up falling in love with each other and by the next series, she's his girlfriend.

Mooks: In the first season, a certain type of Horror with a skull-like face and long droopy horn-ears will sometimes appear in large numbers to fill this role. Red Requiem even starts off with one as a Bait-and-Switch Boss.

Punny Name: Rei Suzumura's name uses the kanji for "zero" and his name as a Makai Knight is ZERO (although the kanji mean something else). As an added bonus, his actor's name is Rei (although he spells it "Ray").

It literally means "CUTTING WOLF" in kanji/katakana. As for GARO, it means "FANGED WOLF".

Rivals Team Up: Despite the fact that for much of the first series, Rei and Kouga were often violently trying to kill each other, they would usually be able to put it aside long enough in order to defeat the Horror of the Week. Just barely though.

She's Got Legs: Jabi, with an outfit designed to show them off. Rekka from the Red Requiem movie, as well. Her actress used to be a dancer after all.

Shoot the Dog: There's no saving a human once they have been possessed by a Horror: once the Horror dies, they die along with it.

In episode 21 it's revealed that the human possessed suffers an indescribable pain and killing them is, in fact, a Mercy Kill.

...Unless the Horror decides to leave the body, as shown in episode 3.

Sugar and Ice Personality: Kouga. Stroppy, rude, aloof, and ruthlessly devoted to his duties as a Makai Knight to the exclusion of most social interaction- and yet, despite all that, he is mature, responsible, noble, far more emotionally stable and empathetic compared to Rei and Tsubasa during their first appearances, and is plainly affectionate towards Kaoru.

Superpowered Evil Side: LOST SOUL GARO, which happens when Kouga exceeds the 99.9 second time limit of his armour.

Probably goes for any other Makai Knight as well, since we see a variation of this happen to Barago in his backstory.

Surprisingly Good English: Kodama, when he actually talks in "GARO Gaiden".note the actor, Mark Musashi, is half-Japanese, and was born in Japan but raised in America.

The entire second half of KIBA Gaiden is narrated by a native English-speaking woman, for seemingly no reason.

Sweet Tooth: Rei, who can put away a whole table full of cake and still come back for more.

Theme Music Power-Up: Almost every episode in the first series. Once Kouga summons his armor in the last part of the episode, the original opening theme starts to play, and it's pretty much guaranteed a major ass kicking is about to happen.

Special mention goes to episode 9, which uses the second opening theme for this sequence, before it starts being used as an opening theme.

Up to Eleven: Let's just say, the fight scene in this series put a new standard in Tokusatsu fight scene

Villainous Crush: Barago's relationship with Kaoru appears to have undertones of this, especially in KIBA Gaiden. He has watched her since she was a child, he is by turns tender and possessive towards her, gets angry whenever she mentions her actual love interest's name, and even calls her "his bride" at one point. Even Erda harbors a bitter dislike of Kaoru because Barago chose her.

The Voiceless: Kodama, though he can summon energy bolts by singing baritone. Though he does talk in GARO Gaiden, in English, which Kaoru somehow misheard as Kansai dialect.

Absentee Actor: Rei gets some focus eps, leaving out Kouga, Gonza and Kaoru entirely. It's justified because at the time those eps take place, he's on the opposite side of the country from Kouga.

Adorkable: Leo as of episode 10 in Makai Senki. During their wanderings through the city, Leo and Kaoru come to a street and Leo realizes that there is only one way to walk down the street. He gravely explains to Kaoru that they can only pass through the ki if it recognizes human emotions within them, leading a worried Kaoru to ask an awkward Leo what they have to do. Cut to:

Kaoru: Man! You should have just said we have to walk through holding hands!

Arm Cannon: The Horror in the first episode of Makai Senki uses one modeled after a cigarette lighter.

Asshole Victim: Nobody was crying when Ratess, who has been a condescending dick to Kouga in his appearances, is betrayed and killed by the Red-Masked Man, whom he was in cahoots with.

It should also be noted that he did not give in to the Horror. The Horror wanted him to feed the katana it was inhabiting fresh blood, but he refused to take the life of innocents and fed the horror his own blood instead by stabbing himself with the katana. This act actually terrifies the Horror.

How did he get that Horror-katana in the first place? He defeated the previous owner in a sword battle. That's right, a normal human being defeated a Horror with all its supernatural abilities in a swordfight...while suffering an Incurable Cough of Death.

Badass Biker: Kouga has taken to it after his car was unceremoniously decommisioned in Makai Senki Episode 3. Rei carries on from the previous season.

Badass in a Nice Suit: Kouga wears a really sharp suit in episode 4 of Makai Senki while infiltrating a gambling den.

Berserk Button: With an increase in emotional attachment, Kouga is more terrifying to watch when pushed too far. In episode 24 of Makai Senki, he even goes so far as to kill Sigma Fudou who was not only human but also revealed to be a childhood friend of Kouga during his Makai training days after he threatened to kill Kaoru.

Bittersweet Ending: The ending for Makai Senki seems to one-up the 2005 series. Kouga manages to defeat Ganon and later, Sigma. But due to his contract with Gajari, he is obligated to go to the Promised Land, but he promised to Kaoru that he will be back for her after which, they finally kiss. During the end screen, looks like Kouga has come back, but it is ambiguous as we only see Kaoru's happy face expression.

The movie Soukoku no maryuu averts this trope, by revealing Kouga did indeed return to Kaoru.

Blatant Lies: The first Monster of the Week of Makai Senki says anything he can think of to try to distract Kouga, from claiming that the only people he killed were Yakuza (after having been shown killing the gangster's girlfriend and a random woman) to offering to team up against other Horrors.

Brought Down to Badass: The Hametsu no Kokuin (Brand of Destruction) on Kouga, Rei, Tsubasa and others force them to fight without their armor most of the time until the direst situations. That doesn't prevent them from being badass, however.

Call Back: Turns out senior Makai Priest Akaza in Red Requiem had the exact same motivation as the old couple in Makai Senki #6.

The art book which Kaoru's father drew becomes a key item in Makai Senki #22 in order to recall Kouga's own identity after he was captured. We still don't get to see what's actually in the last page though.

Chekhov's Gun: Ganon, the powerful Horror who is regarded as "Messiah's Fang" and was mentioned as having been mysteriously killed and its corpse stolen in KIBA Gaiden. In Makai Senki, it turns out the Man in the Red Mask is now in the possession of the corpse and is using it as his source of power.

For a more direct take, the magic flying guppy from the end of Red Requiem reappears in Makai Senki.

Cruel Mercy: At the end of episode 6 of Makai Senki, A Day in the Limelight episode for Rei, he kills the Horror that had been getting fed victims of a murderous old couple in exchange for showing them illusions of their dead son. After the image of their son vanishes, they beg Rei to kill them, to which he bitterly replies:

Rei: I only slay Horrors.

Death World: The Promised Land seems to be this, going by Eruba's worrying about Kouga going there.

Demonic Possession: Inverted in episode 8 of Makai Senki. The Fish Out of Temporal Water swordsman joins with the Horror in his sword so that he can duel Rei, but his will is so strong that he remains in complete control the whole time.

Does This Remind You of Anything?: In Makai Senki #10, Kaoru and Leo take a special... potion... that enhances their senses and allows them to see pretty, magical creatures and they spend the day wandering the city in a state of wide-eyed bliss. Hell, the giant evil ki woman could very well be a metaphor for a really bad trip.

Evil Former Friend: We find out in episode 24 of Makai Senki that Sigma was one of Kouga's childhood friends whom he trained with in episode 15. Sigma realizes this just as Kouga delivers the killing blow.

Evolving Credits/Couch Gag: The ending credits of each episode of Makai Senki show Kaoru working on a different spread for her children's book. Doubles as a Call Back to the picturebook from the end of the first season, though the panels shown here mirror events from the episode even if she wasn't around for them.

Failed a Spot Check: In a good way, as Kouga has to go undercover in the second series and Zaruba has to remain completely still around others... but he can't avoid blinking.

Friendship Moment: Episode 10 of Makai Senki appears to have been one big Friendship Moment between Kaoru and Leo, including wandering around the city, looking at all various spirits and the Adorkable moment where Leo shyly tells her they have to hold hands down one particular street.

Hidden Depths: Leo, despite being a Makai priest, is good enough with a sword to take down a 20-foot creature in Makai Senki #10. In #18 and 19, it is revealed that he's secretly a Makai Knight by the title of Senko Kishi RŌDO/Flash Knight RŌDOnote Rōdo literally means Wolf Rage.

Hoist by His Own Petard: In Makai Senki #22, Sigma Fudou (The Red Mask) wanted to draw power from Ganon (he has a hand from it) when he fought Rei, Leo and Wataru on Edea at the same time, but he end up being absorbed by Ganon.

Holding Hands: Kaoru and Leo hold hands in episode 10 of the second series but only to pass through a ki-filled street, much to Leo's embarassment.

Hypocrite: Ratess despite his bitching about being Incorruptible Pure Pureness personified, eventually betrayed the Makai and join up with Red-Masked Man. He promptly get his just deserts when the Red-Masked Man killed him and revealing that he's just another pawn for his scheme.

I Die Free: Juzo Igari turns his possessed katana on himself when the Horror within it tries to command him to kill civilians to sustain his existence. He was a Blood Knight in life, but would sooner kill himself than indiscriminately kill civilians.

Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Subverted: Ratess boasts that he is immune to corruption, but this does not confer upon him any immunity to being a dick. In #18, his dickisnesh reach a maximum level when he betrayed the Makai and turns out to be in cahoot with the Red-Masked Man.

Infant Immortality: Makai Senki, episode 15 strongly averts this, when all three of Kouga's training companions and at least one other boy are devoured on-screen by a Horror.

Karmic Death: Ratess, who despite his bitching to Kouga about his lack of "Yin-side", betrayed Kouga and the Makai, joining forces with the Red-Masked Man. He promptly get betrayed himself by the Red-Masked Man and is killed for his trouble.

Lighthearted Rematch: Kouga and Rei in the ending of Soukoku no Maryu. The last time they fight was to kill each other in season 1, this time it was to settle their friendly rivalry.

Lighter and Softer: Soukoku no Maryu, which tones down the sex and gore considerably, and adopts a more fairytale-esque atmosphere, compared to the horror elements of the main series.

Lip-Lock Sun-Block: Kouga and Kaoru share one in episode 24 of Makai Senki right before he leaves for the Promised Land.

Mirror Match: Garo fights against a black version of himself the first time the "Man in the Red Mask" uses the Jyaku.

Moment Killer: Taken Up to Eleven in Makai Senki #11. Not only is all time stopped during said moment, but a monstrous manifestation of all Horrors killed by all past GARO appears to pre-emptively kill any such moments in the future.

Our Ghosts Are Different: Makai Senki #5, featured a Horror that was using stylized manhole covers as traps to devour its victims. The creator of the covers is in fact at the end killed by what appears to be his previous love interest's ghost that he killed or let die in the past. But upon examining the body, Zaruba and Kouga can tell it wasn't a Horror but don't know what it was. So they left.

Power Copying: The "Man in the Red Mask" is able to mimic Kouga's transformation, giving himself a dark copy of Kouga's Makai Armor called "Jyaku" as long as he's transformed. This works in both ways: If Kouga dismounts his armor, the Jyaku army is dismounted as well.

The Power of Love: Hinted. In the final battle, Makai Priests toss their Madou Brushes to the Makai Knights, who use them as arrows. Kaoru drops her brush for Kouga. Despite being an ordinary brush and Kaoru just being a normal artist, the resulting arrow is the most powerful of all the attacks.

Red Right Hand: The red-masked man has one of these from Ganon, "Messiah's Fang".

Red Shirt: Despite appearing no less in dignity than the named Makai Knights (GARO, ZERO, DAN, RODO and BARON), all other Makai Knights in the climax of the series effectively became this (not helped by them appearing with less-intimidating and less-ornate armor than the aforementioned "main character" knights).

Samurai: Episode 8 of Makai Senki features a samurai who is sent into our time and is determined to defeat Rei after seeing him fight.

Shrouded in Myth: From the early episodes of Makai Senki, it seems Kouga has now become very famous and feared for his achievements in the past series/films, such as defeating Messiah, KIBA, Legules and Karma.

Even more so in episode #16, where we find out that he has the same face as Leo.

#18, Leo and the Red-Masked Man are different persons. Leo arrive just in time to save Kouga from being massacred by the Red Mask and revealed that he can transform into a Makai Knight, namely Senko Kishi RŌDO (Flash Knight RŌDO).

#19. Leo and Sigma (aka The Red Mask) are twin brothers. Sigma's Start of Darkness is also revealed.

#24, big time. Sigma was one of the students learning under Wataru, which means, he was Kouga's classmate.

You Are Worth Hell: In episode 21 of Makai Senki, Kaoru agrees to accompany the Makai Knights and Priests on a dangerous mission to save Kouga after he has been absorbed by Ganon. When Gonza objects on the grounds that she could be killed, she responds with this:

Kaoru: I don't think I have the power to save Kouga either. I... just want to see Kouga. I want to see him. After all... if I were Kouga, that'd be what I were thinking.

Your Days Are Numbered: In episode 1 of Makai Senki, Kouga is cursed by the mysterious "Man in the Red Mask" with the Hametsu no Kokuin which would kill him in a short while, according to Zaruba. In episode 3, as it turns out, Rei has also been cursed with one.

Let's just say basically every Makai Knights in the show are cursed with one. Especially Tsubasa, whose body deterioates much quicker than others.

From GARO: Makai no Hana (2014)

Combat Clairvoyance: In Episode 18, Raiga and Bikuu engage in a silent duel with each other. Zaruba explains to Mayuri that the two did fight, even though they never made a single move, and Raiga was the victor as pointed out by Bikuu.

Defrosting Ice Queen: Played with through Mayuri. Raiga and Gonza go to some effort to make the cold Mayuri smile and they succeed on occasion, but too bad emotions loosen her grip on the horror cage contained in her body.

"Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: It was announced in October 15th that Akimoto Sayaka, the actress who plays Biku, would sing the theme song for the Biku movie. This marks Sayaka's first solo song in 6.5 years since her iconic solo "Mushi no Ballad" from her time in AKB48.

In addition, the song will be released digitally on sites such as iTunes on October 21st.

Eye Scream: The Horror from #9 has insect limbs sprouts from his eyes as a part of his tranformation.

Sealed Evil in a Can: The titular Makai no Hana. It was a large flower that caused widespread chaos, so a group of Makai Priests separated it into nine Horrors and sealed in a stone slab. Predictably, they escape as the seal in undone by a mysterious person with a knife. Now, Raiga and friends must defeat and re-seal all the escaped Horrors. In other words, the plot is an example of…

Spin-Offspring: This season stars Raiga, the son of Kouga and Kaoru. Funny enough, while they're not around, Gonza is still watching over him.

The Stoic: Mayuri, however, she progressively starts to show emotion as she interacts with Raiga.

Bikuu is incredibly stoic, so much, that she is Unable to Cry after she and Raiga defeats Ratel, who possessed her brother, Izumo, when he fell to darkness. Even after his death, she did not shed a single tear, and accepted that this event was his fate, as well as her own, as her job is to cut down all Makai Knights and Priests who fall to darkness and become possessed by Horrors.

Tranquil Fury: Raiga was angered after been lied by one horror and claimed proud of his downfall that shown precisely on Episode 20. Raiga fight really serious and more focused, giving no chance to the horror to attack.

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